Clark's 2014 commencement--its largest yet--was full of celebration and inspiration      

Clark College honored its 78th graduating class—the largest in the college’s 80-year history—at the 2014 Clark College Commencement ceremony held Thursday evening, June 19, at the Sleep Country Amphitheater.

Approximately 2,100 degrees and certificates were conferred on the next generation of our community’s workers, leaders, and scholars—up from 1,900 the year before. Approximately 715 graduates participated in the commencement ceremony, including 235 Running Start graduates—again, a new record for the college, which has the largest Running Start program in the state.

“Tonight we are here to celebrate your individual accomplishment, and more than that, we are here to celebrate a community of accomplishment,” said Clark College President Robert K. Knight in his opening remarks tot he Class of 2014. “Our community needs each every one of you with your individual skills and talents.”

Clark College Board of Trustees Chair Royce Pollard echoed that thought in his own remarks, saying “We know our future is in good hands with you, just as our community has been in good hands with Clark College alumni for eight decades now.” The former Vancouver mayor then asked the graduates to raise their right hands and repeat the following pledge: “I will never forget that I am a member of the Penguin Nation.”

For the second year in a row, the ceremony’s student speaker was chosen through an essay contest open to all 2014 graduates. Outgoing ASCC president Dena Brill introduced Michelle Brincefield, who entered Clark through Running Start and is planning on attending New Mexico Highlands University on a full athletic scholarship.

“Wherever life takes you after today, you can always take pride in knowing that you have a college degree,” Brincefield said. “No one can take that accomplishment away from you.”

During the ceremony, Clark College President Robert K. Knight announced the names of the recipients of the 2014 Exceptional Faculty Awards. The 2014 awardees are Kelly Fielding, instructor of psychology; Chris Martin, instructor of computer technology and computer graphics technology; Sarah Theberge, professor of early childhood education; and Jim Wilkins-Luton, professor of English.

Knight also announced the recipient of the 2014-2015 Community College President’s Award, which is given to a Clark College graduate who is transferring to a WSU Vancouver degree program and who demonstrated leadership potential, a commitment to community service, and academic achievement. Natasha Hambrook will receive full-time tuition that is renewable for one additional year.

This year’s commencement speaker was ABC Evening News anchor Byron Pitts, who delivered an inspiring speech about the importance of helping others. Pitts began by explaining his own difficult beginnings with education: Until age 12, he was functionally illiterate, and it took the unflagging support of his single mother to help push him toward academic success.

Pitts said that while some of that night’s graduating class may have had an easy time earning their degrees, he suspected many had had rough roads to travel. “I imagine there are some graduates here tonight who heard too often, ‘Not you, now now, not yet. You’re not good enough. You’re not ready,'” he said, adding that he called such graduates “Children of the Storm.”

“To you, the Children of the Storm–to you for whom this night was not guaranteed–you especially have a responsibility, I think, to allow somebody else to live their dream,” he said. “Whether it’s in nursing or as a machinist or going on to continue your education—whatever it is, in that space where you stand, make life better for someone else.”

Pitts received a standing ovation, and it was clear that many attendees found his message inspiring, as posts on social media soon showed.

 

 

Photos and Video: Clark College/Jenny Shadley.

Watch the entire ceremony on CVTV.